2.2.5. Ethnocentrism, Cultural Relativism and
Culture Shock
Ethnocentrism
We often tend to judge other cultures by comparison
with our own. It is not logically possible and proper to
underestimate or overestimate or judge other cultures
on the basis of one's cultural standard. Ethnocentrism,
in general, is an attitude of taking one's own culture and
ways of life as the best and the center of all and on the
other hand, regarding other ethnic groups and cultures
as inferior, bad, full of errors, etc. It is the tendency to
apply one's own cultural values in judging the behavior
and beliefs of people raised in other cultures. It is a
cultural universal. People everywhere think that familiar
explanations, opinion, and customs as true, right, proper
and moral. They regard different behavior as strange or
savage (Macionis, 1997; Hensllin and Nelson, 1995).
Cultural Relativism
Every society has its own culture, which is more or less
unique. Every culture contains its own unique pattern of
behavior which may seem alien to people from other
cultural backgrounds. We cannot understand the